Political Economy of Attacks waged on Arvind Kejriwal

Aam Admi Party supremo is getting famous for the continuous slaps and ink attacks that are waged on him. Two times black ink was thrown on him, once eggs were thrown and Arvind Kejriwal has been slapped twice so far. All these incident took place when he was protected by security personnel. Security can’t do much when you are on a public road as anyone can come close and it becomes difficult for the security to control the situation.

Kejriwal is not the first man facing this kind of attacks. Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Sharad Pawar have also faced slapped attack in the presence of adequate security.

Kejriwal’s hypocrisy on Slap Attack

Kejriwal is demanding probe of attacks on him and is also blaming BJP and Modi for it. I remember when Sharad Pawar was slapped, Kejriwal said with a smile on his face that this is public frustration which is coming out. Jarnail Singh, the man behind a shoe attack on Chidambaram was honored by Kejriwal and he also got an AAP loksabha ticket. Kejriwal welcomed him in his party and introduced him to party workers by saying, Jarnail is the man who threw shoe on P Chidambram and he openly applauded him in front of his party workers. Doesn’t this show the double standards of Kejriwal ? Attack on you are BJP sponsored but attack of other leaders are public anger ?

Attacks are from his own party-men

The man who gave ink face massage to Yogendra Yadav was an AAP worker. Nachiketa Walneka who threw black paint on Kejriwal is campaigning for AAP and can be seen in many rallies sharing the dais with senior AAP leaders. Abdul Wahid, who slapped Kejriwal first was also a AAP worker. There were some media reports that he was paid 25,000 by AAP itself for slapping Kejriwal. Abdul Wahid Later apologized to him. Auto driver Lali who slapped Kejriwal also apologized the next day. These attacks and prompt apologies don’t look normal. All this people who attacked said that they were badly disappointed with Kejriwal and feel that he has cheated people of Delhi. How can the disappointment of such people who go to the extent of attacking him changes overnight ?

Gains from these attacks

With all these incidents of attacks, Kejriwal got good media attention, which he badly needs. Each attack also increased the donation amount received by the party. On March 28, he was hit on the neck at Rohtak, Haryana. That day, the party collected Rs 42 lakh in donations compared to Rs 39 lakh the previous day. Similarly, after Kejriwal was punched and slapped at Dakshinpuri in south Delhi on April 4, online donations soared to Rs 1.35 crore from the previous day’s Rs 35.13 lakh. Contributions went up sharply on the day, Kejriwal was slapped by an apparently disgruntled auto driver.

These attacks by own party men. News about the attackers being paid by AAP itself. Instant apologies from attackers. Gains from attacks, signals that its not normal. Its not slaps in politics, its politics of slaps